IMF: Atiku criticises Tinubu over omission of 2% from Nigeria's GDP - EUROPE SAYS
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said that the latest revelation by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that Nigeria omitted public expenditure equivalent to two per cent of its Gross Domestic. . .
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said that the latest revelation by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that Nigeria omitted public expenditure equivalent to two per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from recent budgets has exposed what appears to be a deeply entrenched system of institutional corruption under the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration. Atiku, in a statement issued on Saturday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, said the IMF’s disclosure, coming on the heels of the scandal surrounding the controversial Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), painted the picture of a government where public institutions were increasingly being converted into instruments for opaque financial dealings. “The Constitution is not a book of suggestions. Section 80 is unequivocal: no money shall be withdrawn from the Consolidated Revenue Fund except in the manner prescribed by the National Assembly. Budgetary appropriation is not a ceremonial exercise; it is the legal authority upon which every kobo of public expenditure rests. ALSO READ:RCCG speaks on Pastor Adeboye’s comments on Tinubu, insecurity“If, as the IMF has revealed, expenditure amounting to two per cent of Nigeria’s GDP was omitted from the budget process, then Nigerians are entitled to one simple question: Who stole the missing two per cent of our GDP?“This is no longer an accounting discrepancy. It is a constitutional, legal and moral scandal. Money does not simply disappear from a national budget. Somebody authorised it. Somebody approved it. Somebody spent it. Somebody benefited from it. Nigerians deserve to know who those people are. ”The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) said the disturbing revelation reinforced growing concerns that the PFIPC affair was not an isolated incident but part of a wider pattern of institutional capture and abuse of public finance. “The discovery that a fictitious agency found its way into official government processes and budgetary allocations should alarm every patriotic Nigerian. Now, the IMF tells us that expenditure equivalent to two per cent of our GDP was kept outside the budget. These are not disconnected events. Together, they point to a dangerous culture of institutional corruption. “The evidence of this institutional corruption is already staring Nigerians in the face. While the Federal Ministry of Health reportedly received only ₦36 million in releases for critical health interventions despite a budgetary appropriation of over ₦218 billion, the so-called Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council—a fictitious agency the Presidency now claims never existed—was reportedly allocated about ₦1. 3 billion. Nothing better illustrates the warped priorities of this administration than a government that starves hospitals and healthcare programmes of funds while ghost agencies somehow find billions waiting for them. This is not fiscal management; it is institutionalised corruption. ”The former Vice President said no agency of government could have been treated as legitimate without authorisation from the highest levels of government. “The Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation does not receive, acknowledge, process official correspondence, or allocate office accommodation to any agency without the requisite approvals from the Presidency. Those now attempting to distance themselves from the scandal should stop insulting the intelligence of Nigerians. “The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, owes Nigerians a duty of candour. He must come clean. The country deserves to know who authorised the recognition of the so-called Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council and under whose directive government institutions accorded it official status. ”Atiku said the scandal reflected the tone of leadership at the highest level of government. “If President Tinubu had confronted openly and transparently the longstanding public controversies surrounding his identity, educational records, family background and the forfeiture of funds in the United States, instead of allowing those issues to linger unresolved in the public space, perhaps—just perhaps—the Adeniyis of this world and their collaborators within the corridors of power would never have felt emboldened to perpetrate a scam of this magnitude. “Leadership is not merely about occupying office; it is about exercising the moral authority to enforce accountability. When questions of accountability remain unresolved at the very top, they inevitably weaken the culture of accountability throughout the system and embolden those who believe public institutions can be manipulated for private gain. “It is even more disturbing that the principal actor in this scandal, Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, has publicly alleged that the dispute escalated after he refused a demand for a 48 per cent kickback from the Office of the Chief of Staff on the agency’s proposed ₦27. 3 billion take-off grant. These are grave allegations that cannot be dismissed with press releases or propaganda. They demand an immediate, transparent, and independent investigation. “If the allegations are false, let the government prove them through an open investigation. If they are true, then every official connected with this scandal, regardless of rank or office, must be removed immediately and handed over to the appropriate security agencies for prosecution. Nigerians deserve the truth, not official denials. ”The former Vice President said that while Nigerians have been subjected to unprecedented hardship through subsidy removal, multiple taxation, escalating electricity tariffs, soaring inflation and relentless borrowing, the government appeared unable to account for substantial public expenditure. “It is both ironic and cruel that citizens are being asked to make endless sacrifices while government itself cannot transparently explain where enormous public resources have gone. “This is exactly how confidence in government collapses. Fiscal credibility cannot coexist with secret spending. Transparency cannot survive where public expenditure disappears from official records. ”The Waziri Adamawa stressed that the matter transcends politics. “This is about constitutional governance. It is about whether Nigeria is still governed by law or by the discretion of a privileged few who believe public resources belong to them. “The National Assembly cannot pretend not to have seen this revelation. The Auditor-General of the Federation, the Public Accounts Committees of both chambers, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission and every institution charged with protecting the public purse have a constitutional obligation to establish the truth. ”He warned that democracy itself is endangered when constitutional safeguards over public finance are systematically undermined. “No administration should assume that because it controls the instruments of power, it also controls the truth. The books must be opened. Every naira must be traced. Every expenditure must be justified. Every official found culpable must be held accountable. “The Tinubu administration came into office promising Renewed Hope. What Nigerians are witnessing instead is renewed secrecy, renewed impunity, and renewed fiscal abuse. “The question before the nation remains simple and unavoidable: Who stole the missing two per cent of Nigeria’s GDP? Until that question is honestly answered, every claim of transparency by this administration will ring hollow. “WATCH TOP VIDEOS FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE TV